


SHIELD Academy

by Bam4Me



Series: The SpideyHulk Chronicles [3]
Category: Captain America, Hulk - Fandom, Spiderman - Fandom, The Ultimate Spiderman
Genre: (Spidey canonly teaches students at SHIELD Academy, Gen, M/M, Since we killed SHIELD, Spidey is taking over, Teacher!Spidey, cause im a bitch who loves that angst, so I'm just going with that.), then the angst crept in, was funny at first, with the help of the avengers, ye be warned sometimes i cry while writing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2018-04-25 21:07:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4976557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bam4Me/pseuds/Bam4Me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just an average school year, in the life of Spiderman, SHIELD's best teacher for teenagers, and Peter Parker, the most annoyed teenager ever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Usheryes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Usheryes/gifts).



> Um... yeah...
> 
> Come see my sister at Usheryes.tumblr.com

“I’m stealing your husbands!”

 

Tony squinted up at the kitchen doorway, feeling slightly hung over. The fact that he hasn’t gotten drunk in over a week is worrying, but, the fact that he hadn’t slept for most of that time either, made up for it. He could blearily make out Peter, standing in the doorway to the kitchen, with Cap (all dressed up in his suit too, so cute) and Hawkeye on either side of him.

 

Phil made a tired noise into his coffee, “Why?”

 

Peter grinned. These two didn’t seem to be morning people. He plopped down into the chair next to Phil while the other two sat down on the same side as Tony, filling up their plates while Peter chugged a glass of orange juice. “I’m using them as guest instructors today. Doreen said she’d come back for a bit to teach the new recruits something, but I’m not fully sure what, because she wouldn’t tell me, so, I figured I’d bring in the big guns to try and keep things calm. Under the ruse of guest instructors, though. Besides, Hawkeye’s been working with my students for a while now, why not Cap too.”

 

Phil looked like he might be developing a slight tick in his left eye. Tony decided he didn’t want to know why. “Why not use Hulk?”

 

Peter looked like his eye was developing a twitch too… weird. Peter sighed, easily calming himself down. Peter was good at that. Kid was zen like the town stoner. Damn. “ _Hulk,_ is currently in a _mandatory_ anger management class with Rhino and Dagger after destroying part of town hall last week. They’ll be out of that class around noon. I’ve asked our counselor to stock up on those Hulk sized crayons I had you make, Tony. He seems to express his anger through pictures very well.”

 

Tony snickered a little, “Oh boy, how did Bruce take that one?”

 

Peter waved him off, getting up to put his plate in the sink, “Eh, he didn’t seem _too_ tore up about it. Annoyed maybe, but overall accepting. Hulk needs to learn that being bad _will_ get him a time out.”

 

Even Cap ended up laughing at that, but Peter just shook his head at them all. It’s not like he would punish _Bruce_ for something Hulk had done. He wouldn’t treat himself like shit just to get back at Spidey for doing something he didn’t deem ‘correct.’ Of course, Spidey had a tendency to feel extreme guilt over doing bad things, so he tended not to do them at all.

 

He ushered Cap and Hawkeye out the kitchen door and down to the garage. They had a class to teach.

 

***

 

“So, do they like, pay you for this?”

 

Spidey raised an eyebrow at Steve, who had taken the cowl off, back in his civvies after a shower, looking around at Spidey’s nice office in interest. “Technically. They don’t pay me to be a superhero, but, just like any other trainer, I get a fair salary for working with new recruits. Coulson still makes more than I do, but I’m highest ranking for the teenage recruits.”

 

Steve looked impressed, flopping down on a comfortable looking couch on one side of the room, and taking something out of his gym bag. Spidey absently noted that he had now gained a hanger-onner in his office as Steve sat back to draw something in the sketch book in his hands.

 

“You know you don’t _have_ to stay here for me to finish up, right?”

 

Steve looked up with a grin, “Do you want me to leave.”

 

Spidey pulled off his mask the rest of the way and rolled his eyes, “Oh I wouldn’t be _so_ broken up if you did, but I don’t mind you staying either.”

 

Steve grinned and went back to his drawing while Spidey typed on a computer.

 

Bruce came in about an hour later while Steve was getting them all something from the canteen, looking tired, but not so annoyed as Spidey was expecting. Spidey grinned at him and felt his heart beat a little faster when Bruce immediately came over to press a dry kiss to Spidey’s forehead, before taking up a spot on the couch next to Steve’s vacated seat.

 

“So, how was anger management?”

 

Bruce laughed a little, “Hulk got bored, and fell asleep halfway through. Nice nap though.”

 

Spidey laughed too, “You know, they’re gonna count that against him later, make him take another class to make up for it.”

 

Bruce shrugged, “Eh, he’ll take another nap, then. Besides, he was rather calm today. I think him knowing you were in the same building as him, soothed his nerves, which, let me tell you, before he fell asleep, that counselor was _really_ grating on them.”

 

“Yeah, he has a tendency to do that most of the time. Don’t worry though, Hulk will get used to him. Or, he’ll stop being a little shit and destroying things when he’s not even supposed to be out. One or the other.”

 

Bruce raised an eyebrow, “You sound like Phil after he gets home from dealing with kids all day.”

 

The door opened just as Spidey was thumping his head on his desk with a groan. “What’s wrong with him?”

 

Steve came in, giving them both trays loaded with food (SHIELD Academy had a _lot_ of kids who could eat half their weight in one sitting, they tried to keep them sated,) and taking his seat back up, shoving a chip in his mouth.

 

Spidey looked up at him with what he hoped was puppy eyes, “Do I sound like a school marm?”

Steve chewed his sandwich slowly, thinking that one over, “Sometimes. When your students are concerned, I guess. You sound a little like Phil, actually.”

 

Steve looked concerned when Spidey groaned again, banging his head on the desk a few more times while Bruce laughed to his side, sounding like Steve had just made his day.

 

“What’d I do?”

 

Bruce just laughed harder.

 

***

 

“Excuse me! This does _not_ look like studying, _or_ resting! I demand answers!”

 

The SHIELD students scattered, looking shocked as Spidey came into the room, smirking under his mask when they all stuttered out answers (most of which, were complete bull, but, that’s okay.)

 

“Oh calm down, would you all? I’m just playing. Cap and Bruce told me that I sound like vice-principal Coulson.”

 

Danny gave him a squinty eyed look, but Flash excitedly piped up with, “That’s cause you do!”

 

Which, promptly, made all the others in the room shush him. Interesting.

 

Spidey cocked his head to the side, giving them all a stern look, “Have you all been talking about me, _behind my back?_ ”

 

They shook their heads, looking way too innocent. Spidey sighed, “You know what, I’m gonna let this one slide and head out before I get called for being late to dinner again, but, just know, I’m always watching.”

 

He left with that ominous threat, half of the teenage superheros going back to fighting over a video game while the others sat down to gossip.

 

Eh, kids. What are you gonna do?

 


	2. Trying To Fix Continuity Errors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, tbh, this is mostly rambles...
> 
> Okay, so, I did not expect this to become an actual thing, and so I didn't really try so hard to make things make sense in the beginning, and now I am regretting that. Continuity errors will be fixed later, but what THIS chapter says, is what actually happens, so, don't fucking complain, I will literally just ignore it.

“What kind of hours does this school keep?”

 

Peter slowed down his chewing, looking up with a slight surprise to see most of the avengers looking at him. He gulped, “Oh. Have you all been talking to me this whole time?”

 

Phil face palmed, sighing loudly across from him. “They want to know about SHIELD Academy. I figured I’d let you tell them, since it’s your school, not mine.”

 

Peter nodded, “Oh. Well, it’s a boarding school, but some kids still live with their families. Of course, now days, Aunt May is so darn busy, I’m with you all more often than not, but the majority of the students there either have family that knows they’re there, or families they can’t go back to, so most of them live there.”

 

Steve frowned, “You’re one of the teachers though. Yet, when you’re not with us, or your aunt, you’re there?”

 

Peter shrugged, “I left Midtown High after the school was started two years ago. I’m one of the teachers, but only for the tactile training courses. I’m still a student there so I can get my high school diploma. Aunt May thinks it’s some fancy smart kid school.”

 

Phil shrugged, “Technically, it is. You’re doing higher level courses here than you ever would have been at Midtown.”

 

Peter gave Phil an odd side eye, “What are you planning with Midtown? I mean, shouldn’t you have been out of there after we started SHIELD Academy?”

 

Phil looked away with a slightly guilty expression. “Eh, we had some things to shut down there. Midtown is still a pretty high target for villains though, so I’m getting a lower level agent to cover my job. I’m transferring to SA next semester.”

 

Peter snorted, “Semester. We don’t have semesters. Well, kind of. We have mini-semesters. Does that count?”

 

Steve gave them an odd look, “Mini-semesters?”

 

Peter shrugged, “We try and keep training schedules to a routine of two months per course. It lowers things down enough that most students can complete at least a course in the allotted time that they might have. We get an odd influx of kids coming in for the summer, and going back to wherever they came from in the fall again. This school pretty much doesn’t take breaks.”

 

Clint made an odd shudder, looking horrified, “Okay, I’ve sat in on enough courses to know that’s a bad idea. What, you guys don’t get breaks?”

 

Peter shook his head, “No, that’s not it. We just don’t ever stop the courses. We make sure everyone takes their fair share of breaks. The school work goes through a normal school year like any other school in the US, eight months on more or less with intermitted breaks, and four months off overall. Just that the course training doesn’t have breaks. All of us there are pretty much teenagers and young adults. None of us have the _time_ to do nothing but training all day, and we don’t expect the kids to try, much less succeed that way. We want to better them, not work them to death.”

 

Phil made an odd noise, “They try and match everyone’s schedules to when they can get it in, not when they _expect_ them to get it in.”

 

Peter nodded, standing up with a stretch before moving to clean up after himself. “You know, I got to get back home, Aunt May is coming back from Brazil tomorrow, and it’s best if I’m at least there in the morning.”

 

Bruce stood up after him, “I’ll give you a ride.”

 

***

 

“Peter? Peter, are you okay?”

 

Peter twitched in his seat, eyes roving over to Ava when she dropped down onto the couch next to him in the break room, down at SA. Luke, Danny and Sam made themselves at home in chairs and bean bags around them, looking at him expectedly. Peter raised an eyebrow at them. “Did I do something?”

 

Sam gave him a funny look, “You’ve been staring off for a while. Keep nervously looking at that corner too. Something off about it?”

 

Peter glanced over at the corner in question, wincing at the image he saw. “Um, you see anything off about it?”

 

They all looked at the corner too. “Well, the paint job is a little… bland, but I cannot see anything wrong with it.” Danny turned back to him helpfully. Peter just stared back before looking over at the corner again, and cringing.

 

“Hmm… thought so.”

 

Luke was the first one to actually get it, though, giving Peter a worried look. “Peter, what do _you_ see in that corner?”

 

The others suddenly got it, giving Peter a worried look, “Something, bad?”

 

Peter sighed, not liking the long scrutiny. “Blood, alright? It looks like someone was brutally murdered over there, and in fact, I’m pretty sure that weird squiggly thing on the floor is someone’s large intestines. I am very disturbed.”

 

Peter was usually fairly good at ignoring most hallucinations he had through the day, taking cues from the others around him while seeing something odd, but, well, that corner just looked very gruesome right now.

 

“Have you told the medical staff about that-“

 

“No. Because, for a person living with as many mental issues as I am, this is _normal._ In fact, this particular hallucination, while gross and kind of vomit inducing, is actually very innocent in nature. It’s not trying to talk to me, it’s not vying for my attention, it’s not whispering evil things in my ears. This hallucination, as far as I can tell, is a natural non-invasive side effect of my _very well working_ medication.”

 

Sam leaned back a little, “Okay, web head, no need to bite, we’re not going to do anything.”

 

Danny nodded, “Yes, Spider, we are just worried.”

 

Peter sighed, looking over at another corner of the room, where he could see a small flower growing in a crack in the floor. He knew that was a hallucination too, but it was a much nicer one.

 

Well, unless Jolen was messing with the base again. In that case, he needed to have a talk with the Attilan to get him to stop. That could really mess with some things.

 

“I’ve had a lot of people in my life get worried about me. Not about me being a superhero. Anyone with a brain knows that’s dangerous, most worry about that. And yet, I’ve never had anyone worry about me as much as they do my mental state.

 

“See, I think I’ve figured that out. They’re not worried about me much, physically. No, I have a healing factor, I can regrow organs if I have to given enough time, and life support. No, they’re worried about my mind.” Peter looked away for a second, before his face lit up a bit, turning back to the others.

 

“You know, if I can regrow an organ, I could possibly regrow a brain, given enough time and life support. Mental illness does present itself as a physical condition. Meaning, my brain _is_ damaged. By all accounts, my body _should_ have healed that by now, but yet, it does not seem to know how to fix something that I was born with. Odd. It’s like, you can’t reset the game, and everything will be okay, if the downloaded file was corrupt in the first place. Either way, I’ve learned that if I took out my brain, the body would grow me a new one to keep in living. But, what happens when the new one grows in the same way, still damaged, and now I have nothing but literally no memories and no way to get them back, to show for it. I would essentially be, an infant.”

 

The others gave him an odd look, not sure where to go with that. Peter wasn’t done though. “You know, my original point wasn’t that, just that that is a sad and desperate thing I’ve learned about myself. No, my original point, is that people care more about my mind, than they do me. Which, I guess is okay. What are we, if not for our thoughts and feelings? Just soldiers to do others bidding. But, it doesn’t change the fact, that no matter what, I’m not me if you remove the mental illness. Of course, things might be easier, but I would never be the same. It’s tough, and I wish it wasn’t there at all, but I don’t want to be that person that I might be, _if_ it wasn’t.”

 

He turned to give them all a hard look, “What I’m trying to say, is, stop trying to fix me, I might be broken, but it’s not a problem with a solution that I find viable. So, until I find one that is, it’s going to stay. If that means I eventually devolve and end up worse than ever past the point of no return, so be it. At least I’m me now, and at least it doesn’t affect me other than discomfort at the moment.”

 

The others nodded. He was him, and they were glad for that at least.


	3. Cuddles and Demons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set, DIRECTLY after the Winter Soldier.

Peter was dosing in the aptly named ‘Spider-Hammock’ in the Hulk’s bug out room, phone laying forgotten on his chest until it buzzed with a new text from MJ, telling him all about her new favorite tv show and how annoying science class is now without him to cheat off of. Apparently, Harry caught them both on fire last week, and they got lunch detention for two days in a row. Heh, they probably deserved it.

 

He blindly groped for it, catching it by the charging cord that was attached to the ceiling in the room so his phone didn’t die on him while he napped. He barely got out a text to her in reply though, blinking sleepily at it before sending the vague assortment of letters and tossing the phone to the side so it wouldn’t wake him up if she texted again.

 

When Peter woke up again, it was just a little, feeling a solid body slide up against his back in the hammock. He smelt Bruce though, the _alluring_ scent of coffee and science experiments gone wrong. It was soothing in a way. “Don’t hulk out.”

 

Bruce chuckled into his ear, arms pulling Peter back against him with a tired smile. “Tony says the hammock could take my weight if I did.”

 

Peter tiredly processed this, “Yeah, but there’s not much room here, I would die if you did.”

 

“Then you would be dead, and unable to complain.” Bruce sighed, pausing, “I shouldn’t even joke like that, now he’s pissed at me.”

 

“Heh, your fault.”

 

***

 

When Peter woke up, Bruce was sitting up again, looking annoyed at his own phone. “You drool in your sleep.”

 

Peter snorted, reaching out for the water bottle he’d brought up to get rid of his dry mouth, “I’ve been sleeping on you for about a year now. You just noticed this?”

 

Bruce sighed, shaking his head and looking up from his phone, “No. I just never realized how cold drool on your arm can be. Also, Tony won’t shut up about his newest AI, and normally I would be excited too, but, Christ, just let me sleep!”

 

“I have an idea.”

 

Peter took the phone from Bruce. Bruce expected him to reply to the last text Tony had sent before raising an eyebrow when all Peter did was shove it under a pillow and make his way towards the outside of the hammock. “Where are you going?”

 

“Gotta pee.”

 

When Peter came back, collapsing into Bruce’s side right away, he frowned, “I told you, no phone.”

 

Bruce kept typing to Tony, barely able to keep up with his fast responses. “Technically, you did not, and other than that, you’re not the boss of me.”

 

Peter pulled back looking petulant, “I will give you a _detention_ don’t you think I won’t! I will call Coulson and make him come get the phone from me because you could not control yourself and continued texting, and Coulson will _not_ appreciate that.”

 

Bruce started snickering, “I’m not your student, and we’re both too tired to have this fight right now.”

 

Peter made one last abortive attempt to get the phone from Bruce’s hand, his arm flopping across Bruce’s stomach instead, “Ugh, fine, yeah, put the fucking phone down so we can sleep.”

 

Bruce sighed, sending off one last text before turning it on silent. “Okay, yes.” He pressed a kiss to Peter’s soft hair, “You’re the boss.”

 

“No, just the teacher.”

 

“A very good teacher.”

 

When Peter and Bruce next woke up, Peter checked his phone, before sitting up with the most creative curse Bruce had ever heard. “What’s wrong?”

 

Peter suddenly looked both murderous and like he was going to cry, all at once. “I’m going to _kill_ Steve. I am going to _murder_ that man in cold blood.”

 

Bruce looked shocked, “What happened?”

 

Peter put the phone down, eyes closed, but wet, trying to regulate his breathing and the painful feeling in his gut. “The triscalion has been hit, pretty much the entire building is down, one of the helicarriers they were working on hit it, and one of my students didn’t survive the crash, another two are in the hospital. Fuck… Bruce, ninety percent of my students have no where else to go with the triscalion down. Over thirty teenagers, over half of whom aren’t human, just became homeless.”

 

Bruce looked shocked, honestly not knowing what to say about that.

 

***

 

Thing is, Peter Parker, and Tony Stark had quite a few things in common.

 

Like, they were both short, and more than cuddlable, and also, science nerds.

 

Also, whenever Steve was getting yelled at by one of them, despite having to look _down_ to see them –even more for Peter than for Tony, which was amazing, cause Tony was _short_ \- he felt like he was three again, looking up at his mama and Bucky’s parents, the two of them getting reamed out for their most recent stupid actions, and it always made Steve want to back down from them, lest he face their wrath.

 

But, another thing that Peter and Tony had in common, was that when his actions, or others, went past a certain point, they no longer felt like yelling.

 

When Steve woke up once more, still in the hospital after getting picked off the shore of the lake, Bucky had dragged him out of, Peter was in the room too.

 

Tony and Sam were still there, Sam looking worried, Tony looking down at his phone and furiously typing away with his left hand in Steve’s. But, Peter…

 

Peter reached up one hand to brush away the tear sliding down his cheek, looking more pissed than Steve had ever seen him. He looked ready to kill.

 

“You’re awake. Hey, Steve.”

 

Steve swallowed, wondering when they were going to let him out. He felt fine, just exhausted.

 

Peter looked over at him for a long moment, before standing and moving to his side. “I’ll be fast, because I’m sure you’ll want to get out of here soon. After a long talk with my supposedly dead boss, Nick Fury, I’ve realized that the crash into the triscallion was not _entirely_ your fault. I only hope that you realize that’s the only thing keeping me from removing your throat. I lost a student. Three others have gone missing, and we’re not sure if they’re on the run, or lost in the crash, but two were just released from this exact hospital. Phil has gathered the ones we can find up, and brought them all to the tower, since almost all of them are now homeless, and my house can’t hold them all.” Peter swallowed, took a deep breath, and turned around, leaving the room without any other words.

 

Steve felt efficiently scolded.

 

“We all know it wasn’t your fault. Peter knows that too, he’s just mad.”

 

Steve nodded, “Well, I feel like my Mom just told me off for getting into a fight.”

 

Sam’s lips quirked up. “Seems about right. That kid’s Spiderman, right? Spiderman trains all the new recruits.”

 

Tony nodded, “Yeah. He’s a mama bear to all the new heros.”

 

Sam nodded, “Still, it’s not your fault, Steve.”

 

Steve nodded again, “Yeah. I have the feeling that I’m not the only one about to be told off.”


	4. Panic Attacks and Crappy Pasts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Know what this fic needs more of? Tony!Whump.

“Sir, may I request that you sit now, before you are unable to keep standing-“

 

“J, fuck. Not another one.” Tony whined a little, stumbling over to the couch in his lab, curling up in a ball on the cushions.

 

He wasn’t panicking because his boyfriend just got out of the hospital. He wasn’t panicking because the triscallion had been hit. He wasn’t even panicking because of the men and women that had been killed in the crash, or the teenagers that had been lost and were still left unfound. He had the best he could get out looking for them.

 

No, he was panicking because of the conditions reports that he had Phil retrieve for him so he could possibly help the students get back to normal parameters and functioning. He was trying to help about forty students find a home again.

 

Tony looked up when he heard the release on his lab open, about to tell whoever it was to just go away, but stopped, seeing Phil standing there with a worried expression.

 

“Tony, what’s wrong?” Phil came over, kneeling on the floor in front of Tony. “Hey, how can I help?”

 

Tony shrugged, still breathing into a stray pillow with wide eyes.

 

“Can I get Steve for you?” Tony shook his head, “Okay. Is there anything I can do?”

 

Tony kept breathing for a minute before pulling out of the pillow, looking over at the table where he had left the file. “Why would you and Peter do that?”

 

Phil frowned, getting up and grabbing the file. It had a picture of the SHIELD Academy barracks. He didn’t see what was wrong with it. The barracks were clean, roomy, appropriately accommodating-

 

“Why would you two leave them there?”

 

Phil came back over to the couch, sitting in the spot to Tony’s left, feeling a little more relived when Tony pressed into his side a little. “I don’t think I understand, Tony. I didn’t think anything was wrong with the barracks-“

 

“Barracks.”

 

Phil paused, looking at the still distressed genius who was avoiding looking at the picture. Phil closed the file and reached over a hand to pet through Tony’s hair like Steve did when he was upset about something. “You need to tell me.”

 

Tony leaned into his hand, still wrapped around the pillow, “Children need privacy. All kids do. It’s abusive to take that away.”

 

Phil vaguely wondered if Howard somehow took away Tony’s privacy. “They have privacy-“

 

“Everyone sleeping in one room is not privacy.” Tony sat up, pulling the folder out of Phil’s lap and blanching white. “Do you want to know what I see when I look at this picture?”

 

Phil nodded, “Yes, I do. I think that might help me understand.”

 

Tony nodded, a determined look on his face. It wasn’t easy to get Tony to talk about anything, so he must really be worked up about this. Tony pointed to the bed off to the side of one of the pictures. It was inlaid into the wall, a thin curtain screen covering the entrance, but the bed directly below it was open. There were no kids in them though.

 

“As far as I can tell, these beds are all symmetrical. Meaning, you have someone sleeping directly below you, next to you, all blocked by a thin metal wall in between, but if you turn you head while in one, to the other side of the room, you see someone else sleeping.”

 

Phil nodded, “Yes. They have curtains-“

 

“Curtains aren’t enough. That just doesn’t work. If you put me, in a room with people I barely knew, with nothing but a curtain keeping someone else from seeing me, I wouldn’t sleep. Not at all.”

 

“These are teenagers-“

 

“Teenagers are still allowed to have and suffer from traumatic experiences in life that makes sleeping around, eating around, and changing around others, hard.”

 

Phil really couldn’t argue that. “I see. You’re right, pretty much as always, Tony. These children need their own rooms.”

 

Tony flinched, “That’s not completely it, though. You have them in _barracks_ , Agent.”

 

Phil nodded, “Yes. We did-“

 

“That’s not how you train a hero. That’s how your train a soldier. You take away their ability to hide. You throw them in a room with other’s and expect them to get over any hang up they have, to be able to sleep around them, to be able to change and see others naked without getting scared. No one, never, not _even_ soldiers, should lose their right to privacy. You’re not training heros, you’re commanding soldiers.”

 

Phil would have been knocked off his feet if he hadn’t already been sitting, suddenly understanding. They were both silent for a minute.

 

“Christ, Tony… I never even realized.”

 

“How?”

 

Phil looked away, a shaky breath coming out of him, “It’s _always_ been that way, Tony. When Clint first joined up, it was a few years before he even had his own room. The only reason we didn’t do that to Natasha was because Clint demanded that she have her own.”

 

Tony have Phil a hard look, feeling the panic he’d felt just from the picture receding. At least Phil was starting to understand. “My brother refused to let me have privacy as a kid.”

 

Phil flinched, “Why?”

 

“He didn’t even sugar coat it. He knew it was abuse, I knew it was abuse. He simply didn’t want me to have anything for myself. Still doesn’t. Oddly enough, Dad was less abusive than him.”

 

“Is that why your father left you SI?”

 

Tony nodded, “Dad was an asshole sometimes. He never told me he loved me, or even that he liked me. But he had never told me that he hated me, not like the burning in his eyes whenever he looked at Gregory.”

 

Phil nodded, gently taking the folder out of Tony’s hands, “He was your twin, how did he have the upper hand on you?”

 

Tony shrugged, “He was bigger, and smarter. Still is both of those. Hell, he’s bigger than Steve now. Sometimes I think he juicing up, but then I remember how twisted his morals are and realize he would never do that. No, he’s just _big_ and mean, and scary.”

 

“Do you think he’ll ever stop scaring you?”

 

Tony was quiet for a minute, as if he’d never thought about that before. He let out a small shiver though, looking sick. “No. Even if I have the scariest people in the world on my side, I’ll always fear him taking them away from me, one by one, until I’m once more forced to rely on him, and only him. That’s what he did, he made me rely on him. That’s why they need their own rooms, and their own space, because sometimes, this doesn’t go away, and to train it out of them, is just as abusive as the initial act itself.”

 

Tony got up on shaky legs, going over to where Dummy was worriedly making him a smoothie. Phil smiled at that. Dummy was just as much of a nervous mover, as his creator was. Tony was cooing at him before asking Jarvis what was in the smoothie to see if it was even edible at all.

 

Tony seemed back to his cheerful self when he asked Jarvis, “J, what are the kiddies up to right now? Are they all okay, they need anything?”

 

Jarvis sounded a little more pleased this time, “Bruce and Clint are helping them all get settled. Peter and Bruce are currently creating a consistent grocery list to help keep them all fed and satisfied with their high calorie intake and diverse needs. Clint is helping everyone get rooms and showing them the gym.”

 

Tony nodded, taking a tentative sip of the smoothie before cringing, and chugging a quarter of it in one go. “Jarvis, you said this was edible.”

 

“I gave you the list of ingredients used-“

 

“There is like, an entire lemon in this, what the fuck, Dummy?”

 

Dummy didn’t seem sorry at all, whirling away with another glass of the non-toxic concoction over to Phil, making him smile at the childlike bot and take it. “Thank you, Dummy.”

 

Phil didn’t seem to mind the lemon as much as Tony did, who crushed up two antacids and dropped them into his before drinking again. Phil did need that, though. He had a stomach of steal.

 

“J, did Bruce give them access to the Hulk out room?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Tony nodded, “Make sure they all know they rules for that, no being assholes in there, no poking at Bruce or Hulk, so and such.”

 

Jarvis made a humming sound, “Clint has already informed them.”

 

“Good! Now, tell me, do I need to open up another floor for them? I have other apartment floors I could make livable by tonight if they need more rooms.”

 

“The only students who are sharing rooms at the moment, are all doing so, willingly. I believe they prefer it this way. Peter’s team, plus a few others, are all on Peter and Bruce’s floor. No one seems to be upset by these arrangements.”

 

Tony nodded, chugging most of the rest of his smoothie. Phil made a mental note to privately inquire to Jarvis, how much of Tony’s actual sustenance intake, came from liquids. From what he could tell, Dummy used entirely fresh ingredients and Tony seemed to have more energy than anyone else, so it couldn’t be _that_ bad for him. If this was his preferred method of keeping himself alive, it wasn’t the worst way to go about it.

 

“Jarvis, could you inquire for me, who will willingly go to therapy appointments, and who I’ll have to convince, out of them all? I believe Peter would have a better tell on that. But, no matter what, they all need them.”

 

Phil couldn’t help but feel a little better at the way that Tony looked so approving right now.

**Author's Note:**

> Come see my sister at Usheryes.tumblr.com


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